Rebirth
by Enide Dear
Summary: Cloud finds two familiar pets. Or maybe they find him.
1. Chapter 1

"Sorry little friend. This one is mine." Gently but firmly Cloud nudged the big dog aside with his knee and took another bite of his hotdog. His stomach grumbled with hunger and the hotdog was just as he liked it; hot and spicy and covered with onions and ketchup. Shiva knew where Midgar street vendors even got meat for their hotdogs these days but it was just the thing after a long day of deliveries.

A whine and a scratch at his leg made him look down again. Huge, liquid blue eyes stared up at him. The dog pawed at his leg again, whining and licking its chops. It was a big dog, huge even, with a ragged black fur and the signs of a hard life on the street apparent in a few scars but it didn't seem aggressive. The bushy tail wagged and the almost exaggerated behaviour made it look like a puppy. If it was a puppy, then Cloud feared to see what kind of huge monster it might grow into one day.

It cocked its head to one side, ears erect and eyes eager.

"No. Mine. Go away." There were hundreds of street dogs in Midgar. He couldn't feed them all. He had enough trying to get food on the table for his little 'family' as 7:the Heaven.

The dog whined again and its tongue lolled out of the mouth. The eyes darted from hotdog to Cloud's eyes, blue and begging. Blue eyes…well, there were some breeds that had those, mostly up in the North Continent and who knew what had mixed into this behemot? Probably somewhere along its ancestry there were at least one Niebel Wolf. Still the eyes bothered him. They seemed far to clever, to sentient for a dog. And there were something else strange with them to…. Acting on a sudden nostalgic impulse, Cloud broke off half the hotdog and reached down, half expecting his fingers to get bitten off. But the enormous dog carefully took the offering between huge teeth. It woofed as if saying 'thank you' but instead of wolfing it down it started carrying the hotdog away, into an alley. Perplexed at the odd behaviour, Cloud frowned at it. Then he followed.

The dog went deep into an abandoned alley and up to some trash cans. Sitting on top of the trash cans and daintily licking a paw was the biggest, whitest cat Cloud had ever seen, its tail a perpetual waterfall of silky-looking white fur. The dog went up to it and placed the hotdog in front of the cat's paw. Green eyes looked down on the offering with distain, but then it started to gnaw at it with needle sharp teeth. The dog looked on with its mouth opened in a doggy grin.

Cloud just stared. This was all…erringly familiar. Cursing himself for being a sentimental pushover he took the last piece of his hotdog and held it out to the dog which woofed happily and swallowed it whole.

"You two are weird." Carefully he petted the dog's head, but it was enthusiastically friendly, rubbing its heavy head against him and licking his still hotdog greasy fingers with a wet tongue. "Both of you." He reached out to pet the cat, but it spun around with a hiss. "Ow!" Four parallel scratches bled freely on his hand; the cat had moved so fast he had barely seen it. "I think I like your friend better." Cloud muttered, sucking at his hand. The dog rubbed against him and pushed its head under his hand to get petted again as if to make up for the bad behaviour of its cat friend. The cat at the other hand ignored him disdainfully and kept eating its sausage. "Well I have to go back. See you around."

His belly still grumbling with hunger, Cloud started back to the bar.

It became a kind of routine. Not every day, but most, Cloud went to the same hotdog seller after work. Most days the dog showed up, and, cursing himself for his soft heart, Cloud gave it his food and followed it into the alley where the cat continued to treat him like a dirty peasant. The dog however became if possibly more friendly, woofing and jumping around him, finding sticks and old shoes to play fetch with. One day it even jumped its forepaws up on his shoulders staring deep into his eyes with its own disquieting blue ones. The dog was heavy and tall; with its paws on his shoulder it was almost a head taller than Cloud and its teeth was very white and big so close to his face. But it didn't scare him. Instead, looking into those blue eyes staring down on him, the ruffled fur and the slowly wagging tail, Cloud felt…strangely at peace as if something inside him settled down.

A night a few weeks later Cloud was awoken by a sharp pain on his nose.

"Ouch!" He sat up with a startle and the cat fell from his chest into a pile of angry silver fur. "What the Hell?" he stared down at the cat - THE cat - most certainly the same one that he'd seen with the dog these last weeks. There were no way there could be two of the regal creatures. But something was wrong with it. Usually it was so serene and haughty but now its silver fur stood on end, the magnificent tail bushy and it was jumping around on his lap, hissing and spitting as if it was trying to tell him something. The green eyes were…distraught and panicking. "What's wrong? Why are you even here? You don't even like me." Cloud added a bit sulky, still clutching his bloody nose.

The cat yowled in angry exasperation as if it couldn't believe he was this daft and then it did something strange. Cloud almost recoiled as it reached up, put its front paws on his cheeks and, almost as the dog had done, looked him deep in the eyes. These eyes were not blue, however, but burning green and much more intelligent than any animal should be. This time Cloud did not feel peace and that strange light-headedness. This time he felt awe and a bit of fright. The silver cat, the green eyes….and the flecks of blood on its face, much more blood than could have come from simply scratching his nose.

Cloud was out of the bed so fast the cat fell over again, but it found its feet before he had even got his shirt on, rushing out the bedroom door like a small silver arrow.

"No wait!" Forgetting all about more clothes or weapons, Cloud rushed barefoot and shirtless after the animal that was no mere animal.

The cat led him through the dark street were only thieves, murderers and Turks still prowled at this hour. No one messed with him, though. He'd liked to think it was because of his reputation as a world saving hero, but more likely it was because a half naked man following a bloodied cat in the middle of the night made even most night time people turn the other way.

The dog lay in the alley, the same alley where they always used to meet. A pool of blood was spreading around it, warm and sticky and as Cloud stepped closer blue eyes turned towards him. Burning blue eyes, Blue mako eyes, dark ruffled hair, a pool of blood. Cloud's heart almost stopped. He rushed forward, falling to his knees in the sticky pool. From the look of it, someone had shot the dog, probably at close quarters. Cloud's blood felt ice cold. A dry tongue came out to lick at his unsteady hands before the dog closed its eyes. The cat screeched with fright but Cloud shoved the huge dog up in his arms, the fur and blood warm against his naked skin.

"He's still breathing." He told the cat as he started running back towards Heaven. The cat ran beside him, easily keeping pace.

"Cloud? What is this?" Tifa came running down the stairs as the door was kicked open and Cloud ran in, carrying what appeared to be a wolf in his arms, the animal's blood all over him. A strange cat jumped all around the both of them as Cloud carefully laid the wolf down on the floor. Cloud looked up at her, his face betraying too many emotions, fear, desperation, awe, a boundless sorrow and a strange hope.

"It's…." Cloud started but fell silent. There were no way he could explain this. No way he could explain who the wolf was. "I just have to do this. Get me some bandages, please." The cat hissed at her as if to make her hurry.

Tifa didn't argue. You didn't argue with the look on Cloud's face.

A few hours later the dog - or wolf - was bandaged and sewed and Cloud had managed to get it to drink a potion and some water. It was sleeping now, exhausted, with the cat curled up on top of its neck on an undamaged spot, watching Cloud with suspicious green eyes. From time to time it affectionately licked the wolf's ear with a pink tongue. Cloud had left the pair alone long enough to take a shower and put on some clean pants but now he sat down next to them. He watched the strange couple, the huge wolf with its spiky black fur and mako eyes and the regal silvery asocial cat. It was all too familiar to be coincidence. Even the wolf's snores were familiar.

"It's you, isn't it Zack?" He said quietly. Blue eyes opened a sliver and the bushy tail wagged once before the wolf went back to sleeping. "And that means you are….Sephiroth." He reached out a hand towards the cat, but it hissed and swatted at him. "I'm sorry, general Sephiroth. Sir." Cloud quickly withdrew his hand. The cat seemed mildly mollified by this amends and went back to watching him, more curious now. "I guess there is nothing for it. You two are staying here now." The cat blinked. Then it started purring.

"He sleeps in your bed, he sheds, he eats a ton a day and he's not neutered." Tifa shook her head. "I don't know Cloud. We have responsibilities enough as it is."

"Yes but…" Cloud stumbled for words to explain what really sounded like madness even to himself, but he didn't have to bother. Zack the wolf padded over to Tifa and put his big head on her lap. Soulful blue eyes gazed up at her and he whined pitiful. Tifa started to melt.

"I suppose we could do with a watchdog though." Zack barked and jumped, his long tongue hanging out in doggy glee. Tifa laughed. "Oh you are a good dog, aren't you? Yes you are!" She leaned down to ruffle him behind the ears, causing the wolf to press his face at her boobs, panting and looking more than a little happy. "And you did find me that towel after I had showered, didn't you?"

Cloud fought the urge to roll his eyes. Even as a wolf Zack was no different than he had been.

"And the cat won't make much trouble." Tifa continued as she gave Zack a belly rub. He had to find a way to talk to her about this, Cloud realised. Zack was getting way to perversly happy about the whole belly rub thing. "And they are both males, so at least we don't have to worry about puppies and kittens."

Sephiroth chose that exact moment to walk in the door, tail held high even though it looked like he'd been in a fight from the scratches on his side. Behind him three silver kittens tumbled in, yowling and fighting. All three looked up at Cloud and hissed.

Cloud buried his face in his arms as Sephiroth gave him a smug cat-smile and dumped the smallest kitten in his lap where it immediately started ripping his shirt to shreds.

"Oh, you got to be kidding me…."


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Follow up on Rebirth (d'uh) because of all the wonderful reviews I got on dA and FF net for it. Thank you all! I live for reviews

The bird looked extremely out of place in the bleak concrete jungle that was Midgar. Its plumage was burning red and golden, its beak and talons looked gilded and the look in its eye spoke of a level of intelligence far exceeding the daft Midgar drab street pigeons. It looked like it would be more at home in Mideel or some other warm exotic place, not the autumn chill of a polluted city street.

It had drawn quite the exited crowd of people, in fact so many that when Cloud and Reeve passed by they could see that the bird's beak was open but couldn't hear what it said over the shouts and mumbles of the crows. It was probably something along the line of 'Polly want a cracker'. Kids were throwing breadcrumbs at it, which it ignored, although it was obviously preening at the attention.

"It's some kind of parrot." Reeve glanced up at it. "They don't eat bread but fruit and nuts, things like that."

"Huh." Cloud shrugged and took a bite of his Banora White apple. Tifa has insisted he eat something else than hotdogs when on missions.

A flash of red, the scrape of golden claws and Cloud found himself holding nothing but empty air.

"What?!" More enraged by the theft than the loss of an apple, Cloud jumped after the bird, but it gracefully avoided him and landed on a rooftop where it started tearing at the blue dumbapple. The kids cheered.

Angry, Cloud took a step forward, but Reeve caught his arm.

"You'd better not." The WRO director pointed at the base of the building were something huge sat, big and black and hairy with burning blue eyes and heavy jaws.

"Is that a bear?!" Cloud took a step back.

"I don't think so. It is probably some kind of guard dog." Reeve started to lead him away. "It is always around that bird. They've been here for weeks."

"Even Zack would have hesitated to attack that one." Cloud mumbled to himself as he let Reeve lead him away.

"Ah yes, your…wolf." Cloud noticed the small hesitation and sighed. He knew no one believed him about the animal's origin. You were pretty bad at it if you couldn't convince New Age space brain Reeve Tuetsi about rebirth. "How is the family?" Reeve continued politely. "You didn't bring the dog on this mission?"

"They're fine. And no. I don't need Zack around all the time. I'm fine by myself. Besides, it's only some kind of street monster, right?"

"I hope so." Reeve sighed. "Whatever it is, it has been menacing people in the slums for long enough. It needs taking care of. That's why I called in you. WRO needs a monster hunter. The usual fee, of course."

"You know I'd do this for free, right?" Cloud shifted uncomfortably. "You're my friend. I'd help you if you asked me."

"I know." Reeve gave him a glance that said the engineer knew Cloud was his friend, but he also knew Cloud had two kids – none his own – a wolf, a cat and three kittens to feed and clothe. Tifa's 7:th Heaven didn't bring in enough. "But I'm also the director of WRO and Midgar safety is my responsibility. I'm entitled to pay you for it. Besides, everyone knows it's ShinRa's old money so I think you are entitled to your fair share of it."

A few hours later Cloud was waiting in a cold and dark alley for a monster to show up. He wasn't worried; slum monsters were usually just stray Boundfats or Hedgehogpies. Although they might be difficult to hit with all that bouncing around, they weren't dangerous to a trained professional like him. It wasn't yet fully dark and he had lots of time; he took the opportunity to call Tifa.

"Don't worry Cloud, we're fine. We have Zacky here to protect us, don't we?" Cloud could hear her smile and ruffle the spiky fur and sighed a bit. The last person on earth who needed protection was Tifa and they both knew it. "He is such a good dog. You know, this morning I couldn't find a single piece of underwear in the house, but Zacky found a pair of panties for me, didn't you boy?" More fur ruffling and the unmistakable sound of doggy glee. "Those frilly thongs you know, the once you bought me Cloud." She giggled a bit. "The once without a crotch."

"I…it's…" but there were no way he could possibly explain to her why Zack 'helping' was so wrong in so many ways. In fact he had had a similar problem himself this morning; when he came out of the shower he'd found the huge silvery cat sitting on his underwear. It didn't do anything, just sat there and stared at him. Challenging him to try to take the underwear back. When he'd chickened out and left the cat-general to his spoils there had been no mistaking the smugness on the serene white face.

And when he came to his room the trio of silver kittens had decided to make all other pieces of underwear he owned crotchless. He'd been forced to go commando all day.

"Alright, just take care. I'll probably be home by tomorrow." He clicked the phone shut.

And now there was nothing to do but wait. And wait. And….

Something huge moved in the shadows. Cloud spun around, but he was too slow; the huge Behemot roared and threw itself over him, an enormous claw tumbled him over and he hit his head hard on the sidewalk. Too dazed to find his feet he was an easy prey; the creature tore after him, ready to devour him.

Something almost equally bug came running out of the shadows and tackled the Behemot, throwing it to the ground. The creature roared in anger, loud enough to shake the buildings, but the huge bear-dog Cloud had seen earlier that day stood its ground in front of the fallen man, courageously protecting him.

The Behemot shook itself and came to its feet, all made rage and lethal force. Cloud tried to find the Buster Sword but his head was still to dizzy, and alone that poor bear-dog wouldn't stand a chance.

Fire came from the shadows, burning through the night that for a second was as bright as day. A plume of fire hit the Behemot and as it reeled in pain the dog lounged at it.

"No, wait!" Cloud had no choice; fumbling for the Buster Swrod he joined the fray.

In the end the monster was not more than a burned spot on the sidewalk and Cloud leaned on the sword, panting heavily. The dog gave him a reproachful glance as he saw the mistreatment of the sword and growled, low in the throat.

"Oh, sorry, sir." With a jerk Cloud got the sword upright and then paused. He looked at the huge dog that had so honorably defended him. He looked at the preening firebird.

"It….can't be…."

"Infinite in mystery is the gift of the goddess. We seek it thus, and take to the sky." The firebird sqaurked.

Cloud's shoulders slumped. There were no way out of this either.

"Yo, what's with the menagerie Cloudy-head?" Reno scratched his head as he walked unbidden in on the chaos that was 7:th Heaven these days. The huge silver cat was giving two purring kittens a tongue bath, but the smallest in the silver trio was caught under the wolf's huge paw and screeching with indignity as the drooling, lolling tongue washed over if. A huge dog was watching over Denzel and Marlene playing and on a rafter sat a bird that managed to brighten the place up all by itself. None of them deigned to look at him.

Cloud gave him a hasty look before returning to pouring animal food into bowls.

"Oh thank Gaia," he mumbled. "If you were a rat I think I'd just scream. And where is Rude? He's not a bear or something, is he? And if Elena is a cat then she can damn well live with you."

Reno just stared as Cloud returned to his chore. Slowly he picked up his phone and dialed.

"Boss? I think Strife just lost it. Yeah, he just compared me to a rat." Reno sniffed annoyed and swung his red tail. "Everyone knows I'm coming back as a fox, yo." A soft sound made him look up and step back, but too late. "Also I think Genesis just crapped on me."


	3. Chapter 3

Title: Rebirth III Author: Enide Dear Rating: work safe Pairing: CloudxTifa, Valenwind (implied) A/N: This 'series' just keeps growing….

It came in the dead of night.

Not a moonless night, or its corpse-white, sinuous body would have been too easy to spot, but one where the clouds chasing over the night sky made ghostly shadows writher on the empty streets. The tortured shadows looked much like the blotchy black pattern on its back scales, making the camouflage perfect. It had waited long and patiently for this chance, and as its muscular long body pressed inside a window hanging open, the snake's cold heart beat faster with poisonous glee. It would have its revenge now, against the ones that hurt it. It would hit him were it hurt the most.

The long body slithered almost soundlessly over the bar's floor, carefully avoiding the snoring pile of fur and muscles by the fire. The huge dog grumbled in its sleep but didn't wake even though an ear twitched. The leaner wolf's legs moved as it restlessly panted while dreaming of running but it too stayed put. Overhead on the rafters the firebird slept with its red head hidden under a golden wing, neck feathers ruffling a bit as the snaked passed by underneath but soon settling again.

A bit further in the room came the greatest challenge; a basked full of silvery felines. The snake kept as far away from the cats as possible, but one of them – the one with the shortest fur - cried out in its sleep, emerald green eyes scanning the room for a second before the smallest one smacked a paw to its face and it was drawn down into the purring pile once more.

The stairs to the upstairs room. Steep, but not impossible for a determined, muscular creature. Something small and squeaky moved in the shadows and the snake struck; uncurling and flaring up its neck shield where the spectacle marks were clearly visible. Mako-green poison dripped from fangs as long as a child's hand. The rat couldn't even scream as the deadly mutation took hold; grotesquely misshaped limbs sprouted all over its helpless body, crawling shivers of even more hideous mutations on the internal organs shook it, its mouth foamed and its own tentacles whipped it to bloody pieces. The snake looked on in patient, delighted glee as the rodent took a long, long time to die in fathomless pain. Then it devoured the bloody lump and kept going up.

Several bedrooms; it tasted the air with a forked tongue. There was a strangely familiar taste, one it had not expected. A taste of that drew it, despite its previous determination. It pushed the door open to a guest room. Two intermingled bodies. The taste in the air of graveyard dust and machine oil. A red cape and a blue shirt on a chair and soft snoring in the bed. For a second the snake hesitated, torn between two delicious choices. Poison dripped in anticipation from its fangs. But it withdrew. It would hurt this old enemy as well if he stuck to his original plan, hurt it much more than anything the snake could do to his body. Besides, were there any physical torture left that he could do to Vincent Valentine?

It slithered on.

The next room, the master bedroom. The scent/taste was strong here, a taste of mako and youth, of frailty and strength. A curious mix. One he'd once thought flawed, but which had ultimately brought him down. Down to….this. A creature forced down on its belly in the dirty. But it would get its revenge tonight. It tasted the air again. The woman was in there to, a taste of strength and beer and happiness to her, but she was of no consequence. His mortal enemy, his failed experiment, his previous lab rat, he would be the one to suffer tonight.

The snake moved on. To the children's' bedroom.

There were two scents in here, a girl and a boy, both loved, both raised by his enemy. Both would look so delicious with the venomous mako mutation pumping through their soft veins, transforming them into monsters while they screamed out the last of their humanity in horror of what they've become. Would Cloud kill them out of pity or would be keep them on, caring for the freaks even as it broke the last of his fragile sanity? No matter which, the snake would have won.

The body moved like one single, smooth muscle. Inside the children's room, over the colorful carpet, past various toys that had been forgotten out after a day's play, and small sized clothes left on chairs for next day's school. Up the side of lovingly built beds. Over carefully tucked- in covers. Up to the pillows and sleeping, angelic little faces….

Oh fucking Hell.

There were no children. A huge silver cat sat on the pillow, unmoving but for the twitch of its tail. Emerald eyes shone in the moonlight and slowly, almost unnoticeably its hair started rising all over its body until it was almost twice its normal size. Sharp claws emerged from soft paws. The serene face contorted into something that was all teeth.

The snake rose up, flaring its spectacled neck shield, opening its mouth to show the syringe-like, needle sharp teeth. It knew this 'cat', but it was only a cat and grazing bite would be all it took.

The door to the children's bedroom closed with a gentle click and the snake dared a glance behind it. The shadows in the room seemed to flow together, forming a huge dog and a sleek wolf. And as if someone had suddenly lit a flare, there was a golden light from above.

A snake can't scream, and the others were silent. The mutilation and carnage of the reptile could have lasted for hours.

"We don't know," Denzel shook his head the next morning. "The kittens came meowing in the middle of the night. We just got up to let them out and when we came back…."

"When we came back the door was locked to our room and it was kind of spooky so we snuck down in your bed instead." Marlene explained to Cloud and Tifa.

"I can't believe this." Rubbing his face, Cloud turned to Vincent who was still holding the sorry remains of the snake's carcass up in his brass claw. The creatures body was almost as long as he was tall. "What do you say, Vincent?"

Vincent stared at the lab-coat white snake with its syringe like teeth and dead eyes, the spectacles and dark lines on the head and neck. He exchanged a look with Cid, who could read the ex- Turk better than anyone. The pilot swallowed nervously.

"I would like to say I have never seen anything like it before, but that would be a lie." The gunman said slowly. They'd all thought Cloud had lost a few marbles again when he started taking in animals off the street, but they surely had shown their worth last night. He looked at the snake. He looked at the 'pets'; the aloof cat and the rebellious kittens, the playful wolf and the guarding dog, the parrot that just wouldn't shut up about Loveless. "And I also think we all owe you an apology."

Cloud's shoulders slumped with relief.

"I'm not crazy?" He almost whispered, glancing at his animals.

"Nah." Cid threw an arm over his shoulders and grinned. "No more than usual, Cloudy-head."

It is because of all the nice reviews that I keep writing this series. Want more of this or anything else? leave a review!


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